Appeal to Square Enix regarding subscription prices for BR and RU

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[UPDATE on Aug. 4th, 2017] As a heads up to anyone still looking here: a link for this thread has been forwarded to SE_Kahuna on Reddit. I got a reply saying it has been forwarded internally, but that these things may take time. Thanks, everyone for posting here. This thread went much farther and further than I anticipated. Y'all are amazing. Cheers~

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Dear Enkrateia and Square Enix,

There has been a lot of discussion and deliberation in this past week, here on the official forums and elsewhere. The purpose of this new thread is to summarize the issue and try to reach a satisfactory closure. This message was first drafted by russian players (including Seturian Wings, from Zodiark), and was then built upon by BR players (like me and Doppelshifter, from Exodus). We would like to share it with you all now.

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I am Midnight Marvin, from Exodus, a player who is part of a community effort of players from Brazil and Russia who hope that this post will reach the office responsible for the recent measures taken on the game's pricing, namely the total removal of regional pricing.

First of all, we would like to point out that your customers from Brazil and Russia are now faced a 60% and 220% price increase, respectively, because they were completely deprived of a service which you have been providing to us through Steam – regional pricing, and its added benefits (such as payment in local currencies instead of relying on international credit cards, special permissions, and inflated currency exchange rates).

Many of your customers from these regions who purchased Final Fantasy XIV made that choice because of the aforementioned service. And those people, who would not able to afford this kind of product otherwise, would have just passed on Final Fantasy XIV, as a product, in the first place. Now, they are faced with the decision of paying for increased costs (which may utimately become unfeasible) or dropping the game they invested so much time and dedication on altogether. And all this, without so much as an official notice, prior or otherwise (seeing as we still haven't got one, since SE Support will simply point customers towards your post as the official and final word). Imagine if the end of PS3 support had been implemented one month after Stormblood, without any kind of a notification or warning. That's how we feel.

We have done our research. We know that there is the (very real) possibility that these measures were put in place in the face of some players from these regions engaging in illicit activities, like the abuse of the Mog Station gift system, for example. We suspect that the Suspension of Free Trial to Full Version Upgrades on Mog Station was possibly done in response to this too, but I digress.

The point is: we understand that SE had valid reason to take action enact some change. We just don't think that the one taken was the best possible option, for both the players and SE. And we want to propose solutions.

As an alternative solution, and, why not, a measure of compromise, we would like to suggest that SE keeps the increase in prices, but that they also offer us an alternative way of acquiring SUBSCRIPTION TIME at a reasonabe rate. With this, players from affected regions can keep playing the game, while the optional items from Mogstation get priced as a premium. A different, lower exchange rate could be implemented specifically for the Subscription, for example (and we know this is possible because the Levelling and Jump potions had these different rates ever since SB implemented them). SE could also expand the Game Time Cards to those regions, region-locking such codes accordingly, just like they already do in Oceania, for example.

There are multiple other alternatives that we would be glad to share and discuss, but for that we need dialog. And in order for dialog to happen, we need you to listen to us. We would like you to help us champion this dialogue, Enkrateia. We understand that community managers many times feel like their hands are tied and that they are powerless to enact the changes the players request, but you are still our strongest link to those who can do more about this, So please, reach out to whomever you can within the company and pass along our message. The outcry has been vast, there's been some media coverage on this, it is plain to see that a good portion of your playerbase is unhappy and possibly moving away from you.

Let's fix this together.

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For all other players reading this, the intent of this thread is to gauge how much support this endeavor can get. We would like for you to show your support of this, but in a controlled and trackable manner. I would ask that THIS THREAD specifically is kept free of discussion and debate on this matter; that can continue to be done in the other thread on the subject.

What we would like you to do is, if you agree with us that this situation needs a better resolution, that you select one of the templates below, fill in the appropriate gaps, and post it here. This way, it will be easier for SE to gauge the impact of this whole situation.

IF YOU ARE A RUSSIAN PLAYER:

As an Eorzean and a player from Russia, I join this cause because I believe it is possible to achieve a better solution, one that could benefit all, players and SE alike.

This is [character name], Eorzean from [server name], and may you all ever walk in the Light of the Crystal.

IF YOU ARE A BRAZILIAN PLAYER:

As an Eorzean and player from Brazil, I join this cause because I believe it is possible to achieve a better solution, one that could benefit all, players and SE alike.

This is [character name], Eorzean from [server name], and may you all ever walk in the Light of the Crystal.

IF YOU ARE A PLAYER FROM OTHER COUNTRY AND WANT TO SHOW SUPPORT:

My sisters and brothers in arms from Russia and Brazil, all Eorzean just like me, are counting on us to achieve a better solution, which we believe should benefit all, players and SE alike.

This is [character name], Eorzean from [server name], and may you all ever walk in the Light of the Crystal.

As an Eorzean and a player from Russia, I join this cause because I believe it is possible to achieve a better solution, one that could benefit all, players and SE alike. This is Seturian Wings, Eorzean from Zodiark, and may you all ever walk in the Light of the Crystal.

As an Eorzean and a player from Russia, I join this cause because I believe it is possible to achieve a better solution, one that could benefit all, players and SE alike. This is Zero Setsuna, Eorzean from Zodiark , and may you all ever walk in the Light of the Crystal.

My sisters and brothers in arms from Russia and Brazil, all Eorzean just like me, are counting on us to achieve a better solution, which we believe should benefit all, players and SE alike. I am here hoping this is resolved and not lead to a mass exodus. May you all ever walk in the Light of the Crystal.

Tags for this Thread

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